UPPER MERION — Upper Merion softball captured its first-ever conference title with an 8-5 win over Wissahickon Tuesday night. The Suburban One American champs are 11-1 with two league games remaining against Cheltenham and Upper Dublin, but it was their win over the second place Trojans that solidified the Vikings’ lead in the conference.

It didn’t come easy however, after breaking out to a 4-1 lead, the Trojans rallied to tie the score. Not to be outdone, the Vikings’ freshman three-hole hitter, Abby Volpe, ripped a three-run homerun in the bottom of the fifth inning.

“I didn’t think I was doing very well after I struck out,” Volpe said. “But after the homerun we all had really positive thoughts and we were all energized as a team.”

“She’s been crushing everything all year,” coach John Whitney said. “I moved her into the third slot, she stands in there confidently and hits the ball hard.”

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The makeup of the team consists mainly of young talent with returning all-area players, seniors Sara Schunder and Anna Blackwood. Three juniors on the squad — Nikki Ross, Maddalana Ghanayem and Gabby Sborlini — are joined by six starting freshmen — Allie Moffett, Olivia Sborlini, Micaela Ghanayem, Abby Volpe, Dezerea Kandy and Riley Kontra.

Whitney said, “The first day we got the team together all the seniors and juniors were sitting on one side and all the freshmen were sitting on the other, but (assistant coach) Casey Murphy shuffled them all up and said, ‘this is what we got to do.’”

All the upcoming freshmen were players Whitney had been waiting on, he said. They were players that he had wanted to gel as soon as possible, because he knew he had some serious talent.

“You don’t get teams like this all the time,” Whitney said. “Twelve of these kids play travel baseball eight or nine months out of the year, and a lot only concentrate on softball.”

The six freshmen all play on the Patriots travel team, a squad in which they practice in addition to their high school squads. Allie Moffett said the extra practice time they receive as a team enables them both more opportunity to play, but also more time to bond.

“We never have a break, we’re always doing something with softball,” Moffett said. “Whereas players from other schools just play for the team, we take it like it’s our life.”

The team is diverse and dynamic. Coach Whitney is able to freely move player’s cross-positions and fill whatever need he may have.

“They know what it is, it’s about the team,” Whitney said. “They’ve been a pleasure to coach, it’s amazing.”

“You have to be willing to try something new,” Moffett said. “Everyone can definitely do everything, and everyone steps up to play at any point.”

The senior leadership humbly directs the younger players by feats in the field rather than vocal praise or “rah-rah” cheers.

“The seniors’ ultimate goal was to make us more as a team, to make sure that everyone enjoys each other,” Moffett said. “No put-downs, only put-ups. Everyone is friends, everyone makes it fun.”

Moving forward, the Vikings will have the next three years to look forward to, but for now the focus is to keep the momentum going.